Greetings from an old Carrier sailor. Yes, dump the Nikons and lenses. I'll PM you with an address where they will be well taken care of. Welcome to the HOG. There are Nikons, BTW that have articulating viewfinders.
Hahahaha. I’ve gotten my head out of my *ss a little bit now. Will stay Nikon and consider saving up for a newer body. Camera maybe too. That was a poor attempt at a joke in case it wasn’t obvious.
Retired CPO wrote:
Greetings from an old Carrier sailor. Yes, dump the Nikons and lenses. I'll PM you with an address where they will be well taken care of. Welcome to the HOG. There are Nikons, BTW that have articulating viewfinders.
An Alternative to seeing your hand from the view finder. Pick a spot where you hand will be. Put something there. Put your Camera on the tripod and set the aperture to F8 to start. Focus on the spot where your hand will be. Take your eye away from the view finder. Put your hand in the spot where you focused and preferably use a remote trigger to take the shot or if possible with the D700 set a delayed release for 2 to 5 seconds to take the shot. (I think Forestall was built in my home town :-)
Welcome to UHH. The Nikon D700 was, and still is a fine camera, still used by many. With the right lenses, it will still take fine images, and I don't think switching to a different brand camera will automatically make you a better photographer or take better pictures. The same goes for the D300. You didn't specify which lenses you inherited, so can't help with giving advice on using what you have.
I would check out UHH member Steve Perry's website,
https://backcountrygallery.com/ and watch any videos he has on using Nikon cameras, and consider purchasing his e-books for sale on his website. Here is the link to Steve's youtube channel where you can find videos he has made using Nikon gear also.
https://www.youtube.com/user/backcountrygallery/videosThere are many books, guides, and other youtube tutorials on the D700 also. Good luck on your endeavors.
Velvetmarmoset wrote:
I’m a brand spanking new digital photography baby. I’m a navy vet, disabled public health doc, electrical/biomedical engineer and aviation enthusiast who now takes photos of stupid things like my hands to get free nail polish, and I occasionally photograph important things like nature, aircraft, ... and my kids. Oh. And the cat. And the devilbird.
In my teens I did some film work with my dad’s Leica and Nikon collections. I’ve inherited my dad’s digital Nikons (d700 and d300 IIRC but they’re all packed up and I have the memory of an amnestic goldfish), and a whole bunch of lenses, but my seat-of-the-pants efforts have resulted in awful pics and I can’t seem to find the right lens to get good hand pics while looking through the damn viewfinder or at the battery sucking tiny screen.
I need to be able to shoot great macros, close up whole hand and product photos & video tutorials, and edit and post them on a budget. While I feel like I should stick w Nikon to use all the expensive lenses my dad collected, Canon is looking so much easier at first glance. I doubt anyone’s still reading but if you are, I’d treasure your advice!
Thanks!!
-Velvet
I’m a brand spanking new digital photography baby.... (
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I would stay with Nikon, since you already have lenses available, that's were all the money is anyway. Canon is not any easier either, they are all about the same. The only difference would be handling ( how the camera fits your hands, that does make a difference, but other than that, the basic layout of the cameras don't differ a lot!
Honestly there is no reason to switch. I have been a Cannonite for many years and began with whatever I could get my hands on in school. Keep what you have and at some future time you may want to update the body but you will have a good start on glass. Most of us began with no glass to start and can honestly say you are talking apples to apples. Both have great products and great glass.
Velvetmarmoset wrote:
I’m a brand spanking new digital photography baby. I’m a navy vet, disabled public health doc, electrical/biomedical engineer and aviation enthusiast who now takes photos of stupid things like my hands to get free nail polish, and I occasionally photograph important things like nature, aircraft, ... and my kids. Oh. And the cat. And the devilbird.
In my teens I did some film work with my dad’s Leica and Nikon collections. I’ve inherited my dad’s digital Nikons (d700 and d300 IIRC but they’re all packed up and I have the memory of an amnestic goldfish), and a whole bunch of lenses, but my seat-of-the-pants efforts have resulted in awful pics and I can’t seem to find the right lens to get good hand pics while looking through the damn viewfinder or at the battery sucking tiny screen.
I need to be able to shoot great macros, close up whole hand and product photos & video tutorials, and edit and post them on a budget. While I feel like I should stick w Nikon to use all the expensive lenses my dad collected, Canon is looking so much easier at first glance. I doubt anyone’s still reading but if you are, I’d treasure your advice!
Thanks!!
-Velvet
I’m a brand spanking new digital photography baby.... (
show quote)
Welcome to the HOG!, I shoot with Canon, but get to a store where you can handle both systems before you buy in, both are good but the camera must fit you, if it doesn't feel good you won't be comfortable using it. Enjoy, Bob.
BTW Reefer sailor, shipfitter.
MikeMck
Loc: Southern Maryland on the Bay
Thank you for your service. Welcome to the forum!
Both of the Nikon bodies you have are very capable of excellent photographs. All you need right now is a macro lens that will fit those bodies.
Learn to use those cameras. Plenty of information in the Internet and many books available to learn them.
Welcome to the forum.
Velvetmarmoset wrote:
First thank you all so much. Canon looked better at first glance only superficially because it had that nice flip out display and made me believe it would be easier to transfer images and videos and the settings seemed more intuitive. But again — superficially only. I was dazzled by the newness and the fact that so many bloggers in my “community” use Canons so I figured they couldn’t be too hard to learn at a basic level. The Nikons I have just seen so counterintuitive to me and I can’t see a dang thing at the level of detail I require. I think I just need to get a cable and a monitor so I can view the shots larger since I’m mostly working at a desk or light box, and then I need a few seriously-hand-holding yet short-attention-span tutorials and books.
First thank you all so much. Canon looked better a... (
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My first suggestion is don't use the screen use the viewfinder. The second suggestion is use auto focus. From there, you will find the smaller the lens aperture (higher f stop number) the greater the depth of field you'll get.
The quick shot below is from my D700 with 55-200 f4-5.6 nikkor lens and Canon 250D closeup lens attachment. Shot with onboard flash using auto focus; to give you some idea of what you can do.
The old lenses surely do not have their own focus motors. If the D300 and D700 also do not have focus motors, check out the rangefinder option for the cameras. The camera will then tell you, in the viewfinder, when it thinks the subject is in focus. Works very well for my D5300 and older lenses.
This group seems to be "Nikon Biased" and nothing wrong with that (well, not too much). However, I have always been a Canon guy. In high school, I had a friend who had a Nikkormat. You had to take the entire back off the camera to load film (a changing bag was recommended...yuck!) and they had that fcking annoying Indexing Hook to couple the lens to the meter. When I went to look at cameras, the camera store I went to sold Minolta and Canon and Alpa cameras (one of the first auto exposure cameras...Swiss made, didn't last long). I loved the fact that on my part-time book store pay of $1.35 an hour, the Canon Ft was less money than the Nikkormat, I didn't have to take the back off to change film and NO INDEXING PIN! I was sold. I tried to switch to Nikon so I would have both film and digital cameras to use same lenses, but I went back to Canon, and will most likely never switch to anything else.
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